Strategic sales make up 50 per cent of VC exit deals in H1 2025

In H1 of 2024, the total exits stood at $637 million (from 36 deals) with $94 million (11 deals) in the nature of strategic sales
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Strategic sales dominated start-up exit deals in the first half of calendar year 2025 as the ecosystem adjusts to more realistic valuations and funds flow.

Out of 46 VC exit deals totalling to $690 million in H1 2025, 23 deals of around $229 million were strategic sales in nature with smaller start-ups being picked up by corporate giants or other established start-ups, as per data sourced from research firm Venture Intelligence. In H1 of 2024, the total exits stood at $637 million (from 36 deals) with $94 million (11 deals) in the nature of strategic sales.

Groww’s acquisition of Fisdom, FMCG giant HUL’s move to acquire Minimalist, Zaggle’s buy of spend management firm Dice Enterprises, and Hatsun’s acquisition of Milk Mantra were among top VC exits through the strategic sale route. Other deals such as JungleWorks’ acquisition of Outplay involved companies aligning to face the AI push in SaaS.

“With capital becoming selective, many start-ups are choosing strategic sales to access scale, resources, or stability that would otherwise take years to build independently. It’s also a reflection of disciplined founders focusing on outcomes over optics,” Pearl Agarwal, Founder & Managing Partner, Eximius Ventures, said. Secondary sales are also going up largely because early-stage investors, who stayed invested for a long time, now want to sell, and these are good signs in a market that is getting older, Agarwal added.

Most preferred route

Arun Natarajan, founder, Venture Intelligence, said that public market sales remain the most preferred route of exit for VC but investors evaluate whether the start-up has the potential to go IPO or not before deciding on the exit route. “In general, secondary and strategic sales indicate that the company’s potential to go public is low and hence let me sell,” Natarajan said.

H1 2025 saw 12 secondary sale deals at a value of $376 million. This is, however, lower than 17 secondary sale exits recorded in H1 2024 at $407 million. In H12025, while growth stage companies like Porter and DarwinBox raised large funding rounds in the period, which saw some of the existing shareholders exit via secondary sales, Urban Company was among those that saw investors cash out in a pre-IPO deal.

Analysing data on exits, Manu Iyer, General Partner and Co-founder, Bluehill Capital, said that strategic sales have been marginally higher in 2025 compared to 2024 but still lower than 2023. “Secondary sales appear to be happening because there are multiple Series B + companies which are yet to find an outcome in strategic sales and and investors appear to be using secondary sales to achieve an exit,” he added.

Published on July 4, 2025